This is the class blog site for Digital Photo,Game Design, and Animation classes at Shorecrest High School.
Each day the site will be updated with assignment information, trivia questions, interesting web links, and dicussion questions. Please bookmark this site as your home page.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

1. What is your theme for your final project?Example: My theme project is Old America, Photomerge Seattle, or Man v. Nature.
2. Why did you choose this as your theme? What is interesting about this theme? Be specific. 2-3 sentences
3. What type of locations will you choose to shoot your pictures? Why?
Keep in mind that you will need to leave campus and most likely leave
Shoreline. Please give three or four examples.
4. What type of pictures do you hope to take? Action, portrait,
landscape etc? A good photo essay will have a variety. Give me some
specific examples and how they relate to your theme. Yes, I want you to
attempt to describe pictures you haven't even taken yet. Visualize...
5. What kind of composition will you focus on in your pictures? You
will need at least five composition elements (not counting
rule-of-thirds). Yes, again I want to know what you are attempting before you shoot. What will you try that you haven't done before?
5b. How will your pictures convey emotion, either from your subject or
from the viewer of the pictures? Why will an audience really enjoy these
pictures?
6. How much work will be done at school and how much away from school?
7. If you don't have a car, how will you make sure you get to your locations? Can your parents help? How about public transit?
8. This project should showcase everything you have learned in Digital
Photography. How will you ensure this happens? What Photoshop
adjustment techniques will you use? Please give three or four examples.
9. Is there anything you are unclear about in terms of composition or shot styles and angles etc? This is the time to ask.
10. What type of camera or Photoshop experimentation will you try? HDR?
Photomerge pictures? Aperture adjustments? Shutter Speed work?Again, Send the treatment to my email account.
Please CC at least one of your parents or guardians on the email so
they know they extent of this project. They may need to help with
transportation etc.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Photo 1 Final Project

Digital Photo: The Final Project

Photo Essay Requirements:

• First pick a general theme. For example, you might pick America,
Democracy, or Responsibility. You will shoot photographs centered on
this central theme. This may include camera experimentation like shutter
speeds, HDR, aperture adjustments, or photomerges.

• Use what you've learned about photographic composition, lighting,
color, lines, texture and use your camera to make a statement. Each
individual photo will be graded accordingly. It is imperative you
showcase your ability to shoot many angles of shots with many levels of
camera composition (Review composition elements and types of shots if
necessary).

• Your photographs should make both a visual and
emotional/political/critical/intellectual statement. Your photo essay
should contain at least 9 photographs. Below
each picture you will also describe the composition elements used on
each photo, what you did to adjust the picture, the photo settings used,
why you picked this picture, and where you took the picture.

A one-page reflection is also
required. In this paper you need describe what you learned during your
project. What did you learn about your subject, Photoshop, and
photography in general. What was easy and difficult about your project?
What would you do differently if you did it again? Finally, how far
along do you think you have come as a photographer this semester?

• You can shoot B & W, Color, or both. It’s your artistic choice.

• You may digitally alter your photos as necessary in Photoshop. You
should use all of the landscape style, portrait style, and Instagram
styles as needed.

• Your pictures should be printed out either 3*5 or 4*6, two to three
pictures per page with the exception of one photo that will be printed
at 8.5 *11.

• Projects should be turned in on poster board or in a binder with
written with the written reflection attached. Look at examples at the
front of the room.

• You will also be dropping this assignment in the Staff server so that we may view each project in front of the class.

Timeline:

Winter Break: You will shoot (at least) Two Full Contact Sheets
Monday January 6: Adjustment Day
Wednesday January 8: Shooting Day 3
Friday January 10: Adjustment Day/Writing
Weekend Homework: Shooting Day 4
Monday January 13: Adjustment/Writing Day
Wednesday January 15: Optional Shooting Day if needed, Adjustment, Writing, and Printing Day
Friday January 17: Adjustment, Writing, and Printing Day
January 22:Projects are due at the beginning of the period.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Your homework assignment is to shoot another set of Portraits. If possible, I encourage you to use relatives either much younger or much older than you. (At this point your should have plenty of "teenager" portraits).
Just like last week, I encourage you to use props, various clothing and costume options, and more than one location if possible.
Also, please remember to USE YOUR PORTRAIT HINT notes. If you attempt to shoot at least 15 or 16 of the hints I think you will do very well on the assignment.
Due date: Monday December 15th

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Digital Photography: Portrait Assignment

You will shoot portraits over the next week on Friday December 6th and Wednesday December 11th

One
day you will shoot at school using the lights in the studio and the
other day you will
shoot off-campus at a predetermined location.

You will shoot AT LEAST
24 pictures of your subject each day (most of you will shoot between 50
and 75 pictures.

You can, and probably should, take pictures on the
weekend as well.

1. Find
two interesting human subjects. The people you choose should WANT to be
in the picture and they should be willing to cooperate.I highly suggest working with people in this class.2.
Talk to your subject. What type of portraits do you want to create? Use colors or lighting to create a concept for
your portrait. Costumes or uniforms work great. Imaginary ideas are OK.
Choose an interesting setting based on your concept.3. Change angles between shots. Shoot at least 24 pictures of each subject.4. Use props if they will help the audience learn something about the subject. 5.
Vary the lighting. Use filters, flashlights, lamps, or multiple lights
to enhance your picture. Use the different lighting techniques that you
will read about in class (see above).6. Encourage different emotional looks. Pretend you are Austin Powers taking pictures. Tell your subject they are "groovy".7. Having your subjects "pose" in action is just fine.8.
Most importantly for this assignment don't forget your compostion
rules. Use framing, leading lines, rule of thirds, color contrast etc.
to enhance your photo. Fill the frame.

Export From Premiere

Exporting From Adobe Premiere Pro

Click ExportYour Project Saves within the Adobe Folder in your Documents section on the ComputerNext, drop your video in the Vidstore Server. Don't forget to use the Naming Convention: 2-mitchellt-Sequence.

For
this next assignment I want you to throw out all of the "rules" we've
discussed in class this semester. This is your chance to be as creative
as possible.I
would recommend looking for patterns, colors, and shapes when deciding
on pictures to take. Also try to take pictures of things you don't normally see in pictures.

Today you will turn in Photomerge CS3.You will then merge all of your new pictures.Next you will edit all of your merged pictures in Photoshop.At 11:15 you will turn in your best five Photomerges on a Contact Sheet. This Contact Sheet must contain at least one picture from each day of shooting.You will also turn in your best Photomerge for grading. I will discuss printing the Photomerges in class.Photomerge Grading:1. Photomerege needs to look like one picture. Colors and objects in pictures should blend together perfectly without any errors.2. Photomerege should showcase rule of thirds and foreground, mind-ground, and background subjects just like a landscape photo.3. Photomerge should showcase an interesting location. Picture should look like something you would see in a calendar or framed on a wall.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Your assignment over the next five to six days is to take multiple landscape panorama style photomerges. Take a picture and then move the camera slightly up or sideways to take another "connected" image. Basically you combine smaller pictures to make one larger picture.

Use a tripod if possible. Remember to manual adjust white balance or select something like "cloudy" or "sunny" on your camera.

Here is how you connect multiple pictures in Photoshop.

To set up a new Photomerge composition:
Do one of the following:
Choose File > Automate > Photomerge.
In
the File Browser, select the images you want to use and then choose
Automate > Photomerge from the File Browser menu bar
In the dialog box, choose an option from the Use pop-up menu:

Files to generate the Photomerge composition using individual files.

Folders
to use all the images stored in a folder to create the Photomerge
composition. The files in the folder appear in the dialog box.

Open Files to use the image files you have open in Photoshop.

Click
the Browse button to navigate to the source files or folder you want to
use to create the Photomerge composition. Select Attempt to
Automatically Arrange Source Images if you want Photoshop to try to line
the images up in their proper order.
Then edit your picture as you need.

Friday: Practice at school up by the track,the front of the school or Hamlin. Take five different photomerges comprised of 3-5 pictures each.
Return to class at 11:30.
Merge your pictures in Photoshop using the directions above.

Weekend Homework: Go to one landscape location and shoot five different photomerges. This means you will shoot about 15-20 picturesMonday: editingWednesday: shooting day, go to an AWESOME landscape location to take more pictures

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Please select your twelve best action photos.
These pictures should show faces, be 95% in focus, fill the frame, and showcase interesting angles and composition. Eight of these photos need to be from your SC club, sport, or event pictures.
Crop, adjust, and color correct all pictures.

Edit two pictures into Grayscale.
Edit two pictures using Selective Focus.
Edit one picture using one-item kept in color.
Edit the other seven pictures in what ever manner you see fit.

Turn in your twelve adjusted photos and call them Action Adjusted.
Turn in your best SC action picture for printing. Call it Best Action for printing.

If you took pictures for Swimming, Football, Cheer, or Flags please create a folder with your best, in-focus pictures and turn them into Ms. Johnson's Drop Box on the Staff Server. Please let Ms. Johnson and the yearbook staff know that your pictures are in the Drop Box.

Your next project is a 600-800 frame stop
motion animation assignment. You will work in groups of three to four to make people do things that aren't possible in real life.
You will
have two full class periods to shoot your assignment using my digital
cameras. You will edit your videos in Adobe Premiere and add sound
effects and music.

To create a STOP action script on the TIMELINE do the following:
1. Create a STOP layer on your animation timeline.
2. Control click and select Actions.
3. Under TIMELINE CONTROL in the upper left hand corner double click STOP.

To create ACTION SCRIPT for your button do the following:1. Click the frame that your button appears in the timeline (make sure your button is on it's own layer).
2. Select directly on your button you have created down in the work area (not on the timeline).
3. Control Click>Actions
4. Under MOVIE CLIP CONTROL select ON and then RELEASE

5. Move the cursor to the second line

6. Under TIMELINE CONTROL select GOTO AND PLAY and then type in the
frame where you want the button to transport the gamer player on the
timeline.

Note: at the bottom of the Action Script commands under Current Selection your button should be selected under current selection:

First, adjust all of your pictures into the various grayscale methods we have discussed in class. Start with the man-made shadow pictures you shot over the last couple of days.

When you are done you are going to turn in your best 20 pictures in a Contact Sheet called Grayscale Adjusted. Please make sure you have all adjustment methods included you must have at least two man-made shadow pictures.

Monday, October 07, 2013

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE ASSIGNMENT:
For this project you will be creating an adventure of some sorts that
pauses periodically and gives the viewer a choice in where the story
goes, thus a "choose your own adventure" tale! Your movie must contain:

* 8 Buttons
* goto and play
* stop
* up, over, down, hit states
* no stick figures
*multiple motion and shape tweens
* movie clips
* at least three instances of sound, sound should FILL your animation
At least three places where decisions need to be made

Please answer the questions below in Text Edit and drop the responses into the Staff Server>Mitchell>Classes>Period 2 or 4.

* Who are the characters? List at least two.
Where does the story take place?List precise location with details.
* What is the main story from beginning to end? What is the main character trying to do?
* What are the options in the choose your own adventure? What are the outcomes?
* How will your animation be more interesting and better looking than your last project?

Monday, September 16, 2013

Your next assignment will be a 15-25 second SCNN commercial for
anything school related. This could include a dance, a game, a club, an
event, or anything else. Content must be related to the specific
school related item.
All animation should look sharp and detailed.
Use school colors where appropriate.

Your animation needs to include:

Music AND sound effects throughout

Keyframe animation

Shape tween

Two Motion Tween

Two Movie Clips

Text that says either "SCNN" or the information for the school club, group, or event

Voices created by you using Garageband or other programs

Most of these projects will be between 200 and 400 frames each at 12 frames per second.

First step: Commercial Treatment

You will write a detailed commercial treatment and send it to the coach
or advisor of your club/activity/sport etc. You will ask for their
permission to make a commercial and also for suggestions. You will
also send me a copy (CC) of this email.